


Let's Drive In

by KaytiKazoo



Series: All We Do Is Drive [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Date Night, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28662372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: It's Date Night in the Deke and Trevor household, and Trevor takes Deke to a drive-in movie.
Relationships: Trevor Khan/Deke Shaw
Series: All We Do Is Drive [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002129
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Let's Drive In

"What if we go to the drive-in this weekend?" Trevor asked on Wednesday night while Deke was showering. Trevor was shaving at the sink, their typical night routine these days. 

"The what?"

"The drive-in."

"Can't we do that any day? Like, aren't drive-ins attached to every fast food restaurant? That's not exactly date night material. No offense. I don’t mean to insult your date night idea. I love you."

"That's a drive  _ thru _ , I'm talking about a drive  _ in _ ."

"And, uh, what is that?"

"It's a movie theater, but instead of seats, you drive in with your car."

"That must be an awfully big building."

"No, it's a field. You pay for your ticket and drive into a field, park your car, and there's this massive screen where they project the movie when it gets dark. It's fun. Avi and I used to go with our parents a lot in the summer."

“I’ve never heard of it before. How come we’ve never gone before?”

“I haven’t thought of it. There was the whole saving the world business last summer so we didn’t exactly have time. But now that we’re not chasing sentient Chronicoms through time, we have time for this.”

Deke peeked his face out from behind the shower curtain at him, and Trevor smiled at him through the mirror.

“Nothing scary is playing, right?”

“Nothing I can’t hold you through.”

* * *

Deke left early on Saturdays, since most departments had the weekends off anyway. He didn't feel bad leaving at lunch if there was no one he was leaving to work anyway. Plus, that gave him plenty of time to get home and get ready for their date nights. They tried for once a week, but it was left necessary after Trevor had all but moved into the apartment.

"Trev?" he called as he entered the apartment. "Are you here yet?"

"I'm going to be honest," Trevor said from the couch, "I did not leave today."

He was still wearing his sweatpants and one of Deke's t-shirts that he had stolen ("Not stolen, borrowed with no intent of returning. You have to keep seeing me if I still have your shirt."), cuddled under the blanket Nana had given Deke after their last mission together. 

"No run today?"

"Taking today off. A rest day."

"Plus I'm sure you'll have plenty of exercise later," Deke said, leaning over the couch to wink at him. Trevor beamed at him. "Do you want to go out and do some shopping before the movie tonight? Nana and Bobo's birthdays are coming up, and I thought we could get them some gifts for them."

"Sure."

Trevor sat up towards him and kissed him softly. 

"Let me get dressed. We can grab some lunch too, if you haven't eaten yet."

* * *

Trevor drove them out of the city and to a field, where as promised, there was a large screen on the far end. He pulled into the driveway to join the line, a teenage girl wearing a West Lake Drive-In t-shirt at the end of the driveway where it gave way to the field stood, talking to each car as it pulled up. 

"How does this work again?" Deke asked while Trevor took out his wallet. "How do we hear the movie?"

"They broadcast it on a radio station."

"What? Really?"

"Really. When I was a kid and we'd come with our parents, there were actually little speakers at each parking space that played sound for the movie. Now, you just tune into the correct frequency and it plays over your car's speakers."

"Oh. That's cool."

"Yeah, I thought so."

When it was their turn, Trevor carefully pulled the car forward and stopped next to the girl. Her name tag cheerfully in bubble letters announced her as  **DANA** . 

"Welcome to West Lake Drive-In Theater. How many?"

"Two adults," Trevor answered.

"That'll be sixteen dollars. Cash or card?"

"Card," he replied, handing over his debit card. She took out a device from her back pocket and rang him up.

"Would you like a receipt?"

"Yes, please."

She printed out the receipt and handed it over to him with his car.

"You'll want to tune your car's radio to our transmitter, 107.3 FM. There's plenty of snacks and goodies at our concession straight ahead, as well as bathrooms available. Go ahead and pull forward, find a spot, and enjoy the show."

"Thank you."

He drove them around the lot once before choosing a spot near the middle directly in front of the screen. 

"What else did you and Avi used to do? What other Kahn Family Traditions are you hiding from me?"

"I wouldn't say  _ hiding _ . That makes it sound nefarious. We've just had a lot going on between, you know, me being undercover for SHIELD - again, I'm incredibly sorry about that - and then the Chronicom time travel nonsense."

"You don't have to apologize every time for the undercover business."

"No, I do. I promised FitzSimmons I would."

Deke scoffed out a laugh. That sounded like something his grandparents would say. 

"Well, who's more important to this relationship, me or them?"

"I want to say you, but Simmons terrifies me."

" _ Nana _ ? Nana is the scary one?"

"She loves you, of course you don't know how scary she is, but yeah, she's the scary one. I've heard stories about Jemma Simmons. I know what she can do. Fitz is practically a puppy next to her some days."

"I'll definitely tell him you said that."

"Oh, god, don't do that either."

Deke leaned over into Trevor's space and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"You're avoiding the question, Trevor."

"I'm not."

"Then, why aren't you answering it?"

"Deke," Trevor started, and a rosy blush tinted his cheeks. 

"I'll just call Avi, then."

"What? No! How'd you even get her number?"

"As if Avi and I don't follow each other on Instagram and can message each other directly."

"That's legitimately the scariest thing you could ever say to me."

"You know my family, I can't know yours?"

"Your family didn't grow up beside you and doesn't know your embarrassing childhood stories."

"Is that why you won't answer me? You're embarrassed? Big scary SHIELD agent is embarrassed about a family tradition! Now you have to tell me."

"Deke," he sighed.

"I will do whatever you want when we get home tonight. You just have to tell me. Or, I will call Aveline and get the answer from her."

Trevor sighed and scratched the back of his neck. 

"Okay. Promise still to love me afterward."

"There's nothing you could say that would make me love you any less than I do right now. I'd love you even if you were Hydra or a Chronicom imposter."

"That's incredibly sweet."

Deke hummed, leaning towards Trevor and catching him with a kiss, holding his jaw for a moment. 

"It was a play we put on every year after Christmas but before the New Year. My grandparents would come and stay with us for that week, so we were all together in one place for once," Trevor finally replied as Deke pulled away. "It was different every year, but we got dressed up and we'd put on this play for the family that Avi had created. It made Avi so happy so I did it for years, even after I was out of the house at college. I'd come home and we'd put together the little skit to put on for our parents and grandparents. There's pictures, and videos still, I'm sure, but I made Avi swear she would never let them see the Internet or else I'd share her eighth grade formal pictures in retaliation and she has a lot more friends than I do."

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about, Trev."

"You haven't seen some of the outfits."

"No, but I don't have to. You love your family, you always have, and I think it's incredibly sweet that you'd do that for her."

"You do?"

"Of course I do. I've known for a long time what you would do for Avi, and it's one of the things I love most about you."

"Yeah?"

Deke hummed and kissed him again.

"Let's get snacks before the movie starts," Trevor said. "They have really good nacho cheese sauce here. I'm pretty sure there's drugs in the cheese to make it taste that good."

"You, Mr. Movie Theater Popcorn himself, are going to get nachos and cheese instead?"

"It's that good."

"Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?" Deke asked as they climbed out of the car. 

Deke got a big bag of popcorn because he was sure Trevor would steal some anyway, and a blue Icee - the superior flavor, despite what Daisy and Trevor said -, and while they waited for their order, Trevor ducked into the bathroom. Deke took his opportunity to text Avi, sipping on his Icee which had come out first with Trevor’s soda.

**Deke** : Okay Trevor told me about a yearly play and said there's evidence

**Deke** : I have to see it

**Avi** : I thought you'd never ask!

**Avi** : Give me three hours and I'll email them to you. 

**Deke** : You're not afraid of him retaliating?

**Avi** : Please, I had those files corrupted years ago 🙃

Deke put away his phone and grabbed the rest of their order as it was handed out, just as Trevor emerged from the bathroom with a grin. 

“Ahh, good!” Trevor said, taking his soda and the nachos from Deke. “You weren’t too lonely out here, were you?”

“No, I got by just fine, thank you.”

Trevor kissed his cheek, and said softly, “your tongue is blue already.”

“You should have gotten a red Icee and we could have had purple tongues by the end of the movie,” Deke teased, heading outside to get away from the throng of customers starting to flood the little concession stand. 

“Mmm, I don’t need a red Icee to make out with you, though,” Trevor replied. It was a little bit of a walk to the car, but the night was clear, and warm without being stifling. If Deke tipped his head back, he could see the stars, far enough removed from the city that the lights didn’t entirely drown them out. “What are you looking at?”

He tipped his head back as well at the stars.

“Mom used to bring me to the observation deck, where there was an outlook into space through this thick glass. She’d hold me on her hip, and point out all the constellations she knew, all the ones Nana and Bobo had shared with her before they’d died. She told me about stars, and planets, and celestial bodies that we couldn’t see, but had observed. If the Lighthouse was in position, she’d point out the constellation she was named after, Alya, Nana’s favorite. She said she’d wanted to name me after a constellation, too, her boy born in the stars just like her, but her and Dad couldn’t agree on a name. None of them fit.”

“How’d they settle on Deke?”

“They didn’t,” Deke said. “You can’t tell anyone this, because no one knows. There’s no records. There’s nothing that will prove you’re telling the truth. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“My name isn’t actually Deke Shaw. Deke is a nickname.”

“It is?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “It’s Douglas.”

“Your name is Douglas Shaw.”

“Yeah.”

Trevor hummed quietly, and looked at him.

“How’d they get to Deke, then?”

“My initials, DK Shaw.”

“What’s your middle name?”

“I don’t actually know that. Mom never used it. She always called me Deke. But I had this baby blanket that someone made me with my initials embroidered into the corner.”

“Douglas K Shaw,” Trevor tested. “I’ll just stick with Deke, but - am I the only one who knows?”

“Yeah, I’ve never told anyone, not even Nana or Bobo. No one. You’re the only living person who knows.”

Trevor towed him in close for a long kiss. Deke made a noise into Trevor’s mouth, unable to touch him with one hand on the popcorn bag and one on the Icee, leaning into him to compensate. 

A passing group of teenagers whistled at them, and Trevor drew away, a sweet rosy blush subtle along his cheekbones. Deke loved that about him, loved seeing the way Trevor was affected by him too. That wasn’t always the case; Deke had learned that the hard way. He still had a couple scars from his previous attempt at a relationship. Sequoia had been rough and unkind, a vast difference from Trevor who was sweet and gentle. Even when they fought, Deke wasn't afraid of Trevor. He'd never been afraid of Trevor, not even after the betrayal. He'd been angry and confused, but Trevor had always had his back, keeping him safe. 

“Hey,” Deke said gently. 

“Hey,” Trevor replied, voice nearly a whisper in the still night air. There was laughing, and bickering, and playing children around them, highlights flashing over them as they circled the lot. “What are you thinking about?”

“How incredibly lucky I am.”

“Yeah? And what triggered that?”

Carefully, Deke transferred to his Icee to his other hand and then lifted it to Trevor’s face, brushing just his knuckles along Trevor’s cheek where his blush was still visible. 

“Come on, let’s get back to the car. We can talk more there.”

Deke led them back to the car, and he desperately wanted to hold Trevor’s hand. There was something so soothing about Trevor’s hand in his own. Steadying. Anchoring. They climbed into the car and into their own seats. Deke set his Icee and bag of popcorn between them and leaned over to kiss his boyfriend just because he could. 

"I was thinking about Sequoia," Deke said quietly. "And, before you get upset mouth, I was thinking about how extremely lucky I am to have someone who cares about me, and loves me as much as I love them, and shows it. You're, I never counted on you; you're something I never expected."

Trevor smiled and caught him for another kiss before he could go too far. He slipped his tongue past Deke's lips and they lost themselves for a while in each other. Deke would gladly not resurface if it meant they got to stay here forever. A horn blared somewhere, followed by upset customer noises, and Trevor pulled away, blush renewed. For someone who didn't like being caught, he toed the edge of being caught quite a bit. 

Deke settled back in his seat as Trevor turned the car back on and tuned the radio to the correct station. They were running advertisements before the show started, and Trevor reached out to turn the volume down.

"So, do you have any secrets no one alive knows?" Deke asked, tossing a piece of popcorn into the air and catching it in his mouth. 

"Ahh," Trevor said. "Nothing that  _ no one _ knows."

"Are you sure?"

"Let me think about it. Most stuff, Avi knows about."

"Okay," Deke said, but just as he went to pick up another piece of popcorn, a look crossed Trevor's face. "What?"

"Okay, there's one thing that only one person knows about, and that's as close as I can get you, because you already know all of my habits and kinks, anything I would have hidden from other people."

Deke nodded.

"The first guy I hooked up with was Stuart Matteson."

"Okay."

"It was freshman year of college. I went to this party with a few guys I'd met in my dorm, and one of them was Stuart. Stuart was Not Gay."

"Okay?'

"Pointedly, Stuart was Not Gay, with like capital letters and a trademark after it."

"Like how Avi texts sometimes."

"Exactly like that. But, he was extremely cute and kept touching my arm, and the more he drank, the touchier he got."

"Doesn't sound very Not Gay to me."

Trevor laughed and said, "he told me he was curious and that he didn't want it to change how I thought of him, because he was extremely Not Gay and it didn't mean anything because he was Not Gay."

Deke rolled his eyes. He couldn't see how an experience with Trevor wouldn't be something special to someone. Trevor was everything good in the world.

"But anyway, we found an empty bedroom and he stuck his hand down my pants. The thing that no one knows is he was so bad at it that I had to fake an orgasm."

" _ No." _

"I have no idea how you can be so bad at a handjob you can't get a drunk eighteen year old virgin off, but he was."

"That's incredible, in an incredibly bad way, but I didn't know you could be that bad."

"Me neither. I always thought that the first time someone touched me like that I'd have a hard time not coming immediately, but it was just awkward and dry and he had no sense of rhythm to it."

"Wow. That's so - that's. Wow."

Trevor laughed.

"Wait," Deke said, thinking about what Trevor had told him already. "Hold on. If you faked it, who else knows?"

"Stuart."

"What?"

"So, a few weeks later, he was bragging about this  _ chick he banged _ ," Trevor said, putting on an exaggerated California surfer dude voice. "He was going on about how much she enjoyed it, and how he was this unbelievable sex god, and we could learn a few things from him. And I thought that was funny because of that party, and then he started mentioning stuff from the party. I realized that I was the  _ chick he banged _ .”

Deke’s eyebrows lifted.

“And I got angry, because he was terrible, and also I hated that he was talking about me like that in front of me.”

“Understandable.”

“So, I waited until he and I were alone, and I told him. I told him that I had to tell him something because I couldn’t have him going around talking about me like this, or women either. If some shithead was talking about Avi like that, I would absolutely beat the shit out of him, so I just wanted to talk him down from this idea. Except, he didn’t believe me.”

“He thought you were lying?”

“Yeah, he said that he didn’t believe me. Men couldn’t fake it. He’d have known. Blah, blah, blah.” Trevor rolled his eyes at that, and blew out a breath before he continued. “He said that I was being homophobic, by saying he was bad at sex, which - whatever. Anyway, he wouldn’t accept that I had faked it, so - have you ever seen When Harry Met Sally?”

Deke blinked at him, and then shook his head.

“It’s a great movie. We’ll watch it later this weekend. But there’s this scene where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are at a diner, and she’s trying to convince him that women fake it sometimes, even with him and he wouldn’t know the difference. So, in the middle of the diner, she fakes an orgasm really loudly.”

“And you?”

“I did. We were in the library at the time so he was particularly mortified because it was so quiet, but I got him to shut up about his sexual conquests. Maybe the next guy he tried jacking off after me actually enjoyed it.”

“Oh my god. And you’ve never told anyone?”

“It’s a little embarrassing.”

“Yeah, for him. There’s nothing about that story that’s embarrassing for you, though. You were amazing.”

“I appreciate that you think so, but I don’t know if that’s true. You’re a little biased because you’re my boyfriend.”

“And as your boyfriend, I think I’m uniquely qualified to say that what you did was amazing, and extremely brave, and a little bit sexy.”

“You’re not worried?”

“Worried?” Trevor didn’t say anything right away, and Deke put the pieces together himself. “No. I’m not worried that you’re faking your orgasms now. We’ve had enough time together that I don’t worry about those things. I know you’d tell me if something didn’t feel good, or if you weren’t in the mood. I know that you trust me, and I trust that you wouldn’t lie to me. Not about this, not after everything we’ve been through. You’re not that cruel to keep lying to me for years.”

“No, I’m not,” Trevor said. “I’ve never faked it with you.”

“See, I knew that already, but I appreciate you telling me anyway.”

Deke leaned over and kissed Trevor’s cheek. 

“Thanks for telling me, babe,” Deke said. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“I also won’t tell anyone what you told me,  _ Douglas _ .”

“Oh, god, none of that.”

“Deke, then.”

“Deke is fine with me. Deke sounds better.” 

He took the opportunity of Trevor beaming at him to snatch one of his chips with the cheese sauce already spilled over onto it and popped it in his mouth with a grin. 

“Hey,” Trevor scoffed. “That is my nacho.”

“Mine now,” he said, muffled by the nacho. Trevor reached over and swiped his thumb next to Deke’s mouth. He pulled away and there was cheese sauce on his thumb. It was quite good, although Deke wouldn’t call it the most amazing thing he’d ever had. Trevor, out of the corner of his eye, brought his thumb to his mouth and sucked the cheese sauce off. He would gladly get an entire tub of cheese sauce just to watch him do  _ that _ again.

“You’re disgusting,” Trevor said, looking at him with a sweet warmth in his expression. 

“Yes, but you have got to admit, you love me.”

There was a beeping noise like a cinema countdown, and when Deke looked up at the screen, there was a screen saying Let the Show Begin with a countdown from thirty. He watched it tick down, fascinated with this whole thing. Sometimes he felt like a small child, gazing at the world with confusion and wonder somehow simultaneously. When he first landed here, everything was so foreign to him. He’d never smelled fresh air, or felt actual sunshine. Everything before had been recycled and manufactured, the air constantly smelling of metal, the food always lacking something fresh. The earth had so much more to offer him than even his mom’s stories had made him believe, new things, new sensations, new events, new feelings. He had spent a few years on the earth living and learning, but even now, there were still things that were new, like this. 

He never would have thought of it himself. Who would have thought that you could take a movie theater and stick in a field and people would go? 

“It’s about the experience,” Trevor had said once. 

That’s how he explained a lot of things. Carnivals, haunted houses, corn mazes, snowball fights, they were all about the  _ experience _ . 

He wasn’t wrong; it was just the way he said it, eyes fond with this cute smile. He'd always known that Deke wasn't like everyone else, and Deke knew he was trying to make up for all the things Deke didn't get to experience. Their first dates after the truth came out and the Chronicoms happened, when they were settled back in their appropriate time together, had been very specific  _ experiences.  _ He didn't need experiences, though.

He just needed Trevor.

He held his hand out and Trevor knowingly took it. 

"Next time, I'll borrow someone's truck, and we can create a cuddle pile of blankets and pillows in the bed like Avi and I used to do," Trevor promised. "That's always the best way."

"Thank you for showing this to me,” Deke said. “Thank you for showing me everything. I know I’m a weird thing in the world, and an unusual boyfriend comparatively.”

“Comparatively?”

“You’ve told me about Quincy before,” Deke said softly, “the kind of perfect All-American boyfriend who your parents loved.”

“Oh, Deke.”

“No, I just mean that, that it’s really sweet of you to take the time to show me everything I missed, and explain things, and tell me why they matter. Like, that’s, you go above and beyond, Trev.”

“I don’t. That’s a perfectly normal thing to do for your partner.”

“I just don’t want you to think you’re my teacher or something, like you’re responsible for educating me. I don’t want you to feel burdened, or get sick of me.”

“I won’t.”

“You can’t know that,” Deke said. 

“I can. You’re not a burden, and you’ve never been a burden. It’s not - I enjoy showing you this stuff. I enjoy taking you places you’ve never been, and seeing how you wonder at it. I enjoy the way you ask questions, and want to learn about everything you can. Bringing you here, sharing things I love with you, that’s a wonderful thing. That brings me so much happiness, you don’t - I never want to stop. And I know, you’re going to get used to this world, and there won’t be anything new, but that just means we get to make those memories all fresh together, share the experiences together that we’ve never had. We get to make, and discover things  _ together.” _

“Really?”

“Yeah. Of course. I’ve never bought a house, or been married before, or had kids, or - there’s a long list of things we’ll do for the first time together. And that’s so exciting.”

Deke smiled, letting the ideas wash over him, through him. Trevor standing in the kitchen of their own home they chose together. Trevor at the altar, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit. Trevor holding a small baby, swaying next to a bassinet in a nursery. 

“I want that. I want all of that.”

He reached out, and Trevor took his hand without hesitation. When he had doubts, he had Trevor. When he was scared, he had Trevor. When he was happy, or stressed, or overworked, he had Trevor. At the end of the day, at the start of the morning, he had Trevor, and there was nothing he loved more, nothing he wanted more. Deke looked over at Trevor, and let himself just enjoy this moment with his boyfriend. 

The movie previews started and Deke leaned into Trevor’s seat, into his side, and let himself enjoy this new experience with him. 


End file.
